County Profile

Kittitas County is located 100 miles east of Seattle across the Cascade Mountain Range and in the geographical center of the state. It is ideally situated at the crossroads of two of the Northwest’s major interstate freeways, I-90 and I-82. These modern thoroughfares connect Kittitas County with Seattle and the Puget Sound area, Spokane and the Inland Empire, the Tri-Cities and the rest of the spectacularly scenic Pacific Northwest: Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. It is bounded to the north by Chelan County, to the south by Yakima County, and to the east by Grant County. The Pacific Crest Trail in the Cascade Mountain Range forms its boundary to the west with King County.

Kittitas County is comprised of approximately 1,481,600 acres. Many of the 2,315 square miles of the Kittitas Valley are the wide, open spaces associated with the beauty of Central Washington and include 158,996 acres of Forest Land. The topography varies from the ruggedly forested Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the Wenatchee National Forest in the snow-capped majesty of the Cascade Mountains and Snoqualmie National Forest, to the mighty Columbia River, which thunders through sheer rock canyons or winds around gently rolling foothills.

Kittitas County has been designated as a Rural County, meaning that its population density is less than 100 people per square mile. The county has a population of 39,900 and is growing. Ellensburg, with a population of 17,230 is the largest city in Kittitas County and the county seat. The valley floor is generally flat with an elevation between 1,500 and 1,580 feet above sea level; however, the elevation within the county ranges from 478 feet to close to 8,000 feet.

Source: Washington State Office of Financial Management – State Auditor

*2008 & 2009 median household figures are preliminary estimates and projections respectively.